Features:
– Newly tooled gun shield rendered w/delicate detail on both sides
– New slide-molded gun trails have bolt support-bracket details
– 105mm Howitzer M2A1 plus USMC figures included
– Trail spades are finely detailed
– Cleaning rods supplied
– Either combat or travel modes can be selected for assembly
– Includes toolbox on gun shield
– Fully detailed fun cradle mount w/bolt and support-brace details
– Slide-molded spring rendered in great detail
– Shield supports connected to gun have delicate detail
– Gun can elevate to different angles
– Slide-molded gun comes w/great detail
– Gun recoils like the real one
– Recoil system made by slide mold
– Aluminum gun barrel w/finely reproduced rifling
– Detailed ammunition included as bonus
– Accurately reproduced 105mm Howitzer M2A1 w/complete breech
– Slide-molded gun breech
– Intricately reproduced gun elevation system
– Gun cradle w/hand wheels finely reproduced
– Realistic tire tread detail
– Nuts sharply represented on wheels
– Wheel brake is finely reproduced
– Finely detailed gun sight

Produced from 1941 onwards, the M2A1 105mm Howitzer was the workhorse of US Army and USMC artillery units in WWII. With more than 8500 M2/M2A1 howitzers produced, the type saw extensive combat in the European and Pacific theaters. Indeed, one in every five shells fired by the US Army in WWII was from a 105mm Howitzer. The gun had an 11.27km range. In the Pacific the 2260kg weapon was widely operated by the USMC, quickly gaining a reputation for its accuracy and potency. The M2A1 was an improved version of this field gun that had a modified breech, while the new M2A2 split-trail carriage had a larger gun shield, and an enclosed screw traverse system. This howitzer was typically operated by a crew of eight men, and it was usually towed by a 6×6 2.5-ton truck.

In 2009 Dragon released a 1/35 scale kit of an M2A1 Howitzer on an M2A1 carriage, but the latest kit offers something a bit different. While the new 1/35 plastic kit depicts the same well-engineered and accurate gun, it is now mounted on the later M2A2 carriage. Furthermore, it is configured as a USMC weapon in use in the Pacific theater of WWII. Thus, it comes with a sharply sculpted and realistically posed four-man Marine gun crew. The brand new gun carriage is well crafted and fully detailed, with precision components that fit together with ease. The inclusion of the Marine gun crew means modelers can create a firing position immediately, with this M2A1 105mm Howitzer ready for an urgent fire mission against enemy positions!